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Tuesday, 28 July 2015

Asian stocks edge up despite fresh China market volatility

Asian stocks rose from the day's lows on Tuesday as Chinese shares see-sawed after Beijing scrambled to prop them up while some investors took shelter from market volatility in safe-haven assets such as government bonds and the Japanese yen.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.3 percent on the day after falling nearly 1 percent early on, touching its lowest level since July 9 before rebounding.

Main China indexes gyrated. In the mid-afternoon the Shanghai market benchmark .SSEC was down more than 3 percent, then pared some of the loss.

Financial spreadbetters expected Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to open around 30 points higher, or up 0.46 percent, and Germany's DAX .GDAXI to gain about 60 points, or up 0.54 percent, on Tuesday.

With most China focused stock indexes quite volatile after Beijing pledged to lend further support, sentiment remained weak with many investors looking to exit the markets at the first signs of a rally.

"Retail investors' confidence in the mainland market is very weak. They prefer to stay away from the market after liquidating their position," said Steven Leung, a director from UOB Kay Hian in Hong Kong.

Since hitting a peak in early June, Chinese shares have gone through a roller-coaster ride with main indexes falling by a third in less than a month before rebounding by a quarter, only to then have their biggest one-day fall since 2007 on Monday.

"Volatility is the enemy of investor appetite," said the head of index trading at a U.S. fund, referring to the lack of demand from foreign investors for onshore stocks.

A mechanism to invest in Chinese equity markets remains barely utilized this week despite the gyrations, in contrast to previous episodes when offshore buyers have jumped in to buy mainland stocks during any weakness.

While regional Asian markets have been initially resilient to the fireworks in Chinese stocks, they have started to move more closely in step with the mainland over recent days in the absence of fresh triggers elsewhere.

Correlations between the MSCI gauge for regional stocks and the Shanghai index .SSEC have risen to 0.5 - its strongest in nearly a year - indicating the market rout is starting to have a broader regional impact.

Investor sentiment was also cautious ahead of a two-day U.S. Federal Reserve meeting beginning later Tuesday where some investors believe the it will make its case for hiking rates as early as September.